LEARNING RESOURCE PACK...a piece of writing, and instead let their imagination run wild. We’re not...

LEARNING RESOURCE PACK

Calling all young writers.2020 has been the year of self-discovery – have you unearthed a hidden talent? We’ve all been through a lot this year, but we’ve also all had an opportunity to spend more time together and find out more about ourselves as people. About what makes us magical.

Whether it’s intrinsic or still yet to be discovered, Explore Learninghas encouraged belief in the power of possibility for children Nationwide for the past eighteen years; to discover their creative writing talents and more of what makes them great.

Everyone has a talent, and anyone can be a writer.

Enter your 500-word story online by the 28th of October for a chance to win incredible prizes!

HIDDEN TALENTS

What are we looking for?

Whilst spelling, punctuation and grammar are of course important; Explore Learning Writers’ Awards were invented to encourage children from across the UK to be creative.

We want children to hang up those bugbears that come with trying to perfect a piece of writing, and instead let their imagination run wild. We’re not looking for the best spelling bee, or the most efficient proof-reader. We’re looking for story telling talent, a narrative that grips us and for an incredible hidden talent to be discovered by your character!

Elements of the story that we focus on:

Characterisation

Theme

Plot

Originality

Language

Enjoyment factor

What’s in the pack?

We have created this learning resource pack for teachers to go alongside our downloadable Explore Learning Writers’ Awards workshop that you’ll find on our website.

The lesson will cover some fun warm up activities before we focus more on one of our judging criteria, ‘Characterisation’.

Print out the activity sheets from pages 3-6 for your students to work on alongside the lesson video.

CONTENTS - Discovering Talent

Page 4 - Characterisation through dialogue

Page 6 - Write your own dialogue

Page 7 - Poster for your school

Page 8 - Prizes

Page 9 - Other activities

OUR CLASS’ TALENT’S

Activity 1:

Some of our favourite story characters have hidden talents: Matilda has the power to move objects with her eyes; Harry Potter is a wizard; and Mumble from Happy Feet can dance!

List some of the talent’s that have been shared by your class below.

Activity 2:

GUESS THE TALENT!Let’s explore the hidden talents of some well-known people. Your challenge is to match the talent to the correct person.

Justin Bieber

Barrack Obama

The Queen

Greg James

Bobby Seagull

Played cricket for Hertfordshire under 18s.

Is a trained mechanic.

Is a rapper.

Is a master of the Rubik’s cube.

Is a talented singer.

CHARACTERISATION

Activity 3:

Meet our friend Buddy. To build his character, he is going to have a hidden talent. From just looking at his picture, can you tell what his hidden talent is?

Write down some suggestions from your class below.

Characterisation using dialogue

“I’m not sure how much longer I can do this for. Work is driving me around the bend. The clattering, the pans and the noise of the busy kitchen puts me on edge. The last straw was that yesterday I found a mouse in my kitchen, so I was straight up on the worktop, my knees knocking!” trembled Kai.

Kai

How does speech help you to get to know these characters? Take a look at the words used to describe how they are talking; this should give you an extra clue. Write down some words you might use to describe these characters.

CHARACTERISATION

Characterisation using dialogue

“Let me sum it up for you, if you’re about to make a deal with me, you need to understand that there are risks involved. Nobody can know about what’s about to go down!” whispered Dotty, under her breath.

“Every night after practice I stay behind to practise my striking. I aim to get 40 goals in from the penalty spot before I go home,” mentioned Elijah.

Elijah

Dotty

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN

Activity 4:Now it’s time to have a go at writing your own speech for Buddy below.

PRIZESA chance to win some amazing prizes.

With the help of our guest judge Greg James, we will be selecting 1 winner from each Key Stage - KS1, KS2 and KS3. From these 3, we will select the overall winner of the

Explore Learning Writers’ Awards.

Each Key Stage winner will receive:

The overall competition winner of the Explore Learning Wirters’

Awards will receive

An iPad, apple pencil and smart keyboard

PLUS £250 towards their very own experience day

£1000 towards an experience day of your choosing

A Macbook Pro

A surprise school visit from a very special guest

PLUS £500 towards books for your school!All entries will also get a certificate

to congratulate them on their participation, signed by Greg James

himself!

Make and do • Videos • Inspiration • Rainy day activities

WORD BANKsleepy

funny

cunning

intelligent

wise

youthful

aged

wrinkly

crumpled

bored

anxious

jolly

hungry

petite

giant

rugged

fearless

strong

thirsty

sporty

creative

little

Award-winning maths and English

tuition for fearless learners

explorelearning.co.uk

CHARACTERSCREATING

Complete your own character then think about how you can weave these ideas into your final story.

Personality

What is my hiddentalent?

Grey hair

Cluesville

Dotty

Villains, broccoli

Clues, apples

Reading, gardening

Adventurous, curious

I am a grandmother by day,detective by night

Name

What do I look like?

Lives

Likes

Dislikes

Hobbies

Personality


Name


Lives

Likes

Dislikes

Hobbies

Personality

ACTIVITY

Character profile

HIDDEN TALENTS

Explore Learning


WORD BANKsleepy

funny

cunning

intelligent

wise

youthful

aged

wrinkly

crumpled

bored

anxious

jolly

hungry

petite

giant

rugged

fearless

strong

thirsty

sporty

creative

little




CHARACTERSCREATING

Complete your own character then think about how you can weave these ideas into your final story.

Personality


Grey hair

Cluesville

Dotty

Villains, broccoli

Clues, apples

Reading, gardening

Adventurous, curious

I am a grandmother by day,detective by night

Name


Lives

Likes

Dislikes

Hobbies

Personality


Name


Lives

Likes

Dislikes

Hobbies

Personality

ACTIVITY

Character profile

HIDDEN TALENTS

Explore Learning

A setting is the place or places where your story happens. If your reader can imagine they are therethen you will hook them into your story. If we were to set our story in this scene and we justdescribed it as a stadium, our reader may need some more description to imagine what it was like.

e.g. The enormous stadium was full of roaring fans

Now it’s time to plan your own setting.

Where do you want your story to be set? Find a picture in a magazine, take a picture or draw one from your imagination.

Now describe your setting. What can you see, hear, taste, touch and smell in your picture? Use these to set the scene.

Can you use adjectives, similes or alliteration to improve your descriptions?





SETTINGSCREATING

HIDDEN TALENTS

Explore Learning

TOP TIP!

Create a description of this setting so the reader can visualise what you are describing.

Here’s an example:

The soaring tent towers above me like a cli� face. The excited screams of people

on the roller coaster is almost deafening, and my nose struggles to separate all of the distinct smells

coming from the nearby food stalls.

Stories often have a problem or dilemma that needs solving. In your story somethingneeds to happen to reveal a hidden talent.

WORD BANKsuddenly

helpfully

fortuitously

regularly

quickly

slowly

miraculously

gradually

gently

thankfully

thoughtfully

sporadically

everyone

nobody

not a soul

the whole world

my next-door neighbour

myself

assisted

acted

ACTIVITYHere are some pictures to show the start and the end of a story. What could have happened to make thischange? Use the word bank at the bottom to help if you need it.





DILEMMASCREATING

HIDDEN TALENTS

Explore Learning

MISSING The ink droplets splattered onto the pavement from the damp poster that she held in her

gloved hands. She dusted her magnifying glass o� from the inside of her rain mac as a

smirk started to play on her lips. Dotty knew exactly what she had to do.

Stories often have a problem or dilemma that needs solving. In your story somethingneeds to happen to reveal a hidden talent.

WORD BANKsuddenly

helpfully

fortuitously

regularly

quickly

slowly

miraculously

gradually

gently

thankfully

thoughtfully

sporadically

everyone

nobody

not a soul

the whole world

my next-door neighbour

myself

assisted

acted

ACTIVITYHere are some pictures to show the start and the end of a story. What could have happened to make thischange? Use the word bank at the bottom to help if you need it.





DILEMMASCREATING

HIDDEN TALENTS

Explore Learning

MISSING The ink droplets splattered onto the pavement from the damp poster that she held in her

gloved hands. She dusted her magnifying glass o� from the inside of her rain mac as a

smirk started to play on her lips. Dotty knew exactly what she had to do.

From all of us here at Explore Learning, wishing you and your students the very best of luck with

their entires. We cannot wait to read them!

Everyone has a talent, anyone can be a writer.

LEARNING RESOURCE PACK...a piece of writing, and instead let their imagination run wild. We’re not...

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